La minute libre

Jason Alexander said he and his Seinfeld co-stars asked for a share of the profits. The answer, by his account, was a flat no. It happened during the 1997 negotiations for what became the final season. Alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards, Alexander sought back-end participation. He called it “something that I will go to my grave saying we should have had.” “It was categorically denied to us, which forced us to then ask for ungodly salaries.” Alexander said the refusal led them to seek higher salaries. Variety reported in May 1997 that Alexander, Louis-Dreyfus and Richards would each earn $600,000 an episode for season nine. Huge salaries. Alexander also acknowledged standard rerun residuals. But those payments were not the profit participation he said the three had been denied. In 2004, Alexander recalled telling Jerry that leaving them out had “created a rift between you and the three of us” and “a chasm that is also inappropriate.” Alexander also described negotiations for participation in the DVD release as “a happy arrangement.” He still insisted they should have had the profit share.